Introduction.

The Gifts of Orthodoxy.

        What is distinctive about Orthodoxy? What features define Orthodox identity in the context of contemporary pluralism, secularism and post-modernism? These questions are of enormous significance for the future of Orthodoxy and its effective mission in the world. They have to do with our own self-understanding: who we are, how we see ourselves, what values we hold, what are the distinctive aspects of our common life, what traits or features define our character and behavior. The issue of identity is integrally connected to our mission. Who we are guides us in what wee are to do and how to do it. The dynamic task of defining both identity and mission equally apply to individual Orthodox Christians, specific parishes and the Church as a whole.

        It is especially important today to be clear about these weighty matters because the modern world has an overwhelming influence on all of us. Our pluralistic and secular society no longer supports Christian existence in any sense except for the exercise of the right of freedom. In fact the modern world undermines Christianity at every turn, while at the same time, paradoxically, many men and women deeply hunger for God and authentic expressions of Christianity. The more clearly our identity is defined, the more focused our mission is, the more effective the success of our witness becomes. And we trust that the words of Christ remain equally true for our society today: “Lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest” (Jn 4:35).

        Some have attempted to define the essence of Orthodoxy in terms of single elements or themes. In a book first published in German (1957) and later translated into English under the title The Eastern Orthodox Church (1967), the German theologian Ernst Benz brilliantly introduced western readers to Orthodoxy through the symbol of the icon. The Orthodox dogmatician John Karmiris and other noted Greek theologians of the twentieth century located the quintessence of Orthodoxy in the Nicene Creed and the Seven Ecumenical Councils. Still other theologians have put the emphasis elsewhere: the Eucharist, the understanding of the Holy Trinity, the ethos of freedom, the centrality of love, the teaching of salvation by divinization (theosis). These approaches have highlighted valuable aspects of Orthodoxy. However, one-sided focus on particular themes or topics is inevitably reductionistic and narrow. It proves inadequate to the task of grasping Orthodoxy in its fullness of faith and life, a task appropriate to its confession of being the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

        At the opposite end of the spectrum are those who would advocate an ideal “Holy Orthodoxy” in all its historical particulars to be presented to the world as a seamless whole. For some who have followed this approach, there are really no problems except that most Orthodox Christians lack the zeal to observe all the traditions and canons of the Church. On a visit to Mount Athos many years ago, the writer briefly met an elderly monastic who seemed sublimely innocent of Church and family issues in America. He was incredulous that Orthodoxy could exist in America. With sincere conviction, I am sure, he came quickly to the point: “Why don’t you leave America,” he said. “Leave your work, your wife and your children, and come here to the Holy Mountain. It is here where you can find (true) Orthodoxy and see the glory of Byzantium that remains!” For him, Orthodoxy and the glory of Byzantium were one reality reflected in the monastic culture of Mount Athos.

        The well-meaning monastic’s vision of Orthodoxy was understandable because he had been on Mount Athos since childhood. However, similar views by those who live in the world, although understandable as a reaction to the modern world and the fear that Orthodox Christians are losing their moorings, are not at all justifiable. Efforts at a reenactment of “Holy Byzantium” or “Holy Russia,” or a type of monastic culture in the parish, are not only historically impossible but also theologically indefensible. They are uninformed about the interplay between Christianity and culture throughout the ages. They ignore the struggle of the great Church Fathers who wrestled with Hellenism in order to christianize it. They forget the mission of the Church to engage the world directly as the Lord himself engaged it through His incarnation and said to the disciples: “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (Jn 20:21). In the end, the option of a “Holy Byzantium” distorts the universal, dynamic character of Orthodoxy, surrendering it to sectarianism, legalism, authoritarianism and obscurantism. It tends to foster an unloving, cultic and fanatical religiosity of externals that once stood in mortal opposition to Christ Himself.

        We find a different vision in the thought of Father Thomas Hopko, Dean of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. In an article on Orthodoxy and culture,^[1] Father Hopko is forthright, almost to the point of pessimism, about the grave dangers of Orthodoxy in the post-modern world. Nevertheless, he insists that to deny engagement with contemporary society by escaping to a world of our own making is to live “for illusions and delusions.” His vision of the task of Orthodoxy today is a clarion call to action. In his own language, which he describes at one point as “violent but true,” Father Thomas advocates numerous urgent priorities. Chief among them are to: 1) put Christ and His Gospel at the center our concerns; 2) think and act in truly conciliar spirit apart from narrow agendas, whether as individuals or parishes or entire Churches and patriarchates; 3) abandon the lie that the universal truth of Orthodoxy can equally be served while fully retaining our ethnic cultures and even the set forms of ecclesiastical institutions; 4) resist the temptation of viewing Orthodoxy as an ideology, a sort of hypostatized entity, unconnected with how we actually think and live, and 5) be wisely open and vulnerable to the world, both witnessing to the truth and accepting criticism because “wherever truth is, Christ is there.”^[2] Father Hopko’s perspective is as challenging and instructive as it is candid and courageous.

        In what follows I present my own proposal about five characteristics or dimensions of Orthodoxy that are at the forefront of Orthodoxy’s engagement with modern society of which Orthodox Christians themselves, like it or not, are full members. What I develop is not in contrast to Father Hopko’s vision. It is only another way of casting the issue and suggesting the groundwork for further reflection. I choose to call these five characteristics “the gifts of Orthodoxy.” Far from being separate from each other, they in fact overlap forming a cohesive whole. These are precious gifts which ought to be presented first of all to Orthodox Christians themselves as ways of understanding the identity of Orthodoxy, and as ways of living joyously the fullness of its faith and life. Only then can they be offered to the world, as well, in a loving, positive, intelligible, and convincing manner. In each case, I also raise questions about whether or not we as Orthodox Christians truly practice what we preach. This is necessary in order not to be found wanting while appearing to instruct others. Authenticity is nothing else but life in conformity with one’s truth claims with a sense of genuine, self-critical integrity.